Facebook appoints its longtime News Feed executive as Instagram head

After co-founders made an abrupt exit, Facebook has appointed its News Feed executive Adam Mosseri as the new head of Instagram.

Instagram’s former CEO Kevin Systrom and its chief technology officer Mike Krieger have announced to step down as they were reportedly upset over Facebook management increasingly steering Instagram’s strategy.

Before moving to Instagram as Vice President of Product in May, Mosseri headed Facebook’s news feed tool.

“We are thrilled to hand over the reins to a product leader with a strong design background and a focus on craft and simplicity — as well as a deep understanding of the importance of community. These are the values and principles that have been essential to us at Instagram since the day we started, and we’re excited for Adam to carry them forward,” Systrom and Krieger wrote in a joint statement.

“Since we announced our departure, many people have asked us what we hope for the future of Instagram. To us, the most important thing is keeping our community — all of you — front and centre in all that Instagram does. We believe that Adam will hold true to these values and that Instagram will continue to thrive,” the statement added.

Mosseri’s new designation will be head of Instagram instead of CEO as Systrom had been. Facebook did not reveal why it changed the title.

While Facebook has been facing immense outage from users due to data privacy breaches like the Cambridge Analytica scandal, Instagram has generally avoided controversy.

Facebook bought Instagram in 2012 for $1 billion, now has over one billion active monthly users and has grown by adding features like messaging and short videos. In 2016, it added the ability to post ephemeral stories, a copy of Snapchat’s popular “stories” feature.

“Mike and I are grateful for the last eight years at Instagram and six years with the Facebook team. We’ve grown from 13 people to over a thousand with offices around the world, all while building products used and loved by a community of over one billion. We’re now ready for our next chapter,” Systrom said in a blog post.

“We’re planning on taking some time off to explore our curiosity and creativity again. Building new things requires that we step back, understand what inspires us and match that with what the world needs; that’s what we plan to do,” added Systrom.

Mosseri’s immediate duties would be to recruit a new executive team, including includes engineering, product, and operations leaders, said Facebook.